Truck Forums - 1991 Steering Column Issue

Hello everyone. Brand new to the forum. I have a 1991 Silverado with Tilt wheel and Automatic. This is a fairly high mielage truck ~ 240K miles. However the truck is in incredibly good condition for its age.

Okay here is my problem... I only drive the truck about every 10 weeks due to it being relegated to a small side business I have. I just went out to start the truck and noticed the battery was almost dead, engine would not crank. When I went to turn off the ignition, the key would not return to the off position. I jiggled the gear shift a little to see if that helped, to no avail. I eventually got the key to turn off and removed it. Charged the battery, then attempted to start the truck again. All went fine there, but when I tried to move the gearshift from park to drive, it was difficult and took a forceful jerk to get the lever to move from park to drive. Note the emergency brake was on so the park pawl was not "loaded". From there things whent from bad to worse. Truck drove fine, but when I went to park it again, the gearshift would not move past neutral while trying to go to park. I could not turn the key to off in order to stop engine and eventually pulled fuel pump fuse to do so.

So, my key is stuck in the ignition, in the on position, my gearshif is now in neutral, and I had to disconnect the battery because the ignition was in the on position.

There were no signs of tampering, so I don't think this is a case of someone trying to steal the truck and damaging column.

Any ideas on where to start? It appears you cannot even remove the column cover for inspection of "guts" without removing the steering wheel and turn signal/wiper switch.

I guess I should mention I am an accomplished mechanic, but have never disassembles a steering column and all the springs/linkages within.

Thank you in advance for any help anyone can offer.

Royce (turbohvn)
Alexandria, VA